| The concept of servant-leadership is widely appreciated as an efficient method of governing corporations, faith-based organizations, and educational institutions. Research validates the effectiveness of servant-leadership and is replete with instruments to measure the merits of leading in this manner. Many prominent coaches have embraced the tenets of servant-leadership and personify the core concepts of service, humility, compassion, empowering others, altruism, trustworthiness, and vision. While the world of athletics embraces the idea and many coaches emulate the style, very few studies exist that links servant-leadership to increased player motivation. The motivational effects of servant-leadership coaching deserve further research. In a profession where player motivation is often the deciding factor for success, coaching leaders seek a cause/effect linkage between coaching behavior and player behaviors. Employee job satisfaction and the practice of servant-leadership enjoy a causal link, (Shaw and Newton, 2014, p. 104) but the question of transfer to increased effort on sports teams is largely a matter of conjecture. This study seeks to enlighten readers regarding the motivational effectiveness of servant-leadership as a philosophy for effective coaching. The information included in this writing presents a body of data from high school girls and boys regarding their perceptions of coaching leadership traits, and how these traits affect their level of motivational effort. These athletes were surveyed in small groups to gain a further understanding of how the dynamics between coach and player improve player performance. Patterson's seven constructs of servant-leadership are the measured traits in the research study. (Patterson, 2003) The survey data is presented as a value ranking of Patterson's Leadership Constructs. The resulting data is designed to provide clear understanding by coaching practitioners, and offers a practical pilot for further study. The goal of the researcher is to present a useful statistical data set of applied research for sport leaders. |
